That seems like such a civilized word for what I do in the yard. Gardening? More like struggling against nature. Today I wanted to cut out more of the dead wood in those old pfitzers. Some of the branches are four inches thick, maybe more. I used loppers for thinner branches, a saw for the thick ones. I don't have a chain saw, so it's the old manual kind. Sometimes I ask too much of the loppers, taking on a branch just a bit too thick. This evening, I was leaning into it with my whole body trying to force it to cut that branch, when it suddenly did and when the handles unexpectedly closed, my face was between them and one handle smacked me pretty hard just below the eye. I didn't cry, but I did say ow a lot. Then I sort of forgot about it and continued on, and also sprayed some Deer Off on the tulips and put some poison down a new gopher burrow. It was later in the evening when I looked in a mirror and saw a large black and blue lump just below my eye. Wow, that's a real shiner! It didn't hurt but has started to ache a little now.
I'm sleepy and want to sleep now, but also want to see Obama on Leno. Don't know which urge will win.
It was a little over a year ago that I injured my ankle in the yard. This is a good reminder that I need to be very careful -- I can't afford to be out of commission.
2 comments:
I spend so much time in my garden there is rarely time for anything else. "Fighting with nature" is such a matter of course here with little rain, water restrictions, and we sit on heavy clay soil. Still I persevere with the hope of someday having a perfect tranquil spot to sit and relax.
I can so relate to that, Heatherbelle. We live in a desert climate, though perhaps not as severe as yours. I have planted two-thirds of my yard in low-water plants instead of lawn, and try to keep my water usage as low as possible.
I know my whole yard will never be perfect all at once. It's too big for one person. The most I can ever hope for is to have one perfect area at a time and everything else tolerable.
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